State-controlled developer Greenland Group plans to focus on real estate projects in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas over the next five years while expanding into the international property market, the Shanghai-based company says.

"Greenland would like to expand into other areas in China with some partners in the form of joint ventures or co-operation," Zhang Yuliang, the company's chairman and chief executive, said yesterday.

Zhang said the firm's overseas investments this year would exceed the 10 billion yuan (HK$12.7 billion) announced at the beginning of the year. He said he expected overseas businesses to generate more than three billion yuan in revenue this year.

"We hope income from overseas business will reach 10 billion yuan in 2014," Zhang said. "I'm pretty confident we can achieve the goal."

He said the company had the "rare opportunity" to invest in foreign property markets because "the market is huge as increasing numbers of Chinese people are migrating, investing, studying and travelling in other countries".

But the mainland would remain important to Greenland. "We won't give up the China market," Zhang said.

Greenland listed in Hong Kong yesterday through a backdoor. It acquired 60 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of listed property company SPG Land, which will be renamed Greenland Hong Kong. SPG Land shares rose 0.2 per cent yesterday to close at HK$8.69. The benchmark Hang Seng Index retreated 0.59 per cent.

Zhang said Greenland would inject good-quality assets into its listed arm but did not elaborate on when or if the parent company would place its high-end residential properties into the listed vehicle.

Greenland said it would inject the best of its recent mainland projects into the listed company to help it achieve contract sales of 10 billion yuan next year and 50 billion yuan in 2018.

In addition to the Hong Kong listing, the developer wants to achieve a listing on the mainland market.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Greenland eyes further overseas expansion